Chapter 2: Tutorial (2)
I, Artier, stared at the incoming barrage.
Unfortunately, its trajectory was aimed straight at me.
If I don’t move, I’ll die!
This wasn’t a dream—it was reality.
With my eyes wide open, I charged forward.
Clang!
And with my sword, I sliced the monster’s projectile in half.
“How did you do that?”
“I’ll hold it off.”
I laid my sword horizontally and glared directly at the Hellmorph.
As I stepped forward, the Hellmorph’s legs began to twitch and flail.
It’s working. Easier than I thought.
I smiled.
“No way…”
Gerard, staggering, looked at the pushed-back Hellmorph and doubted his own eyes. In that brief moment, nearly half of the creature’s legs had been severed.
“Kieeeek!”
The creature’s pained scream echoed throughout the drainage channel.
Emboldened, I advanced. It fired another barrage, but it was meaningless.
Shunk! Slash!
My sword strikes split the projectile in half, tearing through its hide.
Finally, one of the Hellmorph’s legs was ripped off and rolled across the ground.
As expected, the legs are its weak point. Just as I remembered.
The Hellmorph let out a monstrous shriek before turning to flee.
As the pale creature vanished, the drainage channel fell silent in an instant.
“You…”
Gerard grabbed me by the collar, his face twisted with menace.
“What are you?”
His eyes were filled with fear and wariness. Seeing that gaze, I thought, What do I do now?
In the original tutorial, this Hellmorph was unbeatable.
It was designed as a “you can’t win at this point” enemy, where a single direct hit would deal critical damage.
The NPCs were supposed to abandon the unconscious Artier and flee.
“How did you block all its attacks?”
“I parried them. Didn’t you see?”
“Parried?”
This game had a “parrying” system.
A technique where you block an enemy’s attack and counter in a split second, completely neutralizing their strike and disrupting their stance.
“You deflected and countered all those attacks? How is that even possible?”
Parrying was an extremely difficult skill. It required reading the enemy’s attack perfectly and timing it precisely.
Failing meant taking massive damage.
“Hm…”
But I just scratched the back of my neck with a nonchalant expression.
I’ve faced this guy in the tutorial how many times now?
<cross destiny=""> had over 30 known endings and more than 10 hidden ones.<br>
It was a game that encouraged repeated playthroughs.<br>
And the tutorial was a mandatory gateway to progress.</cross>
For me, who had gone through the tutorial hundreds of times, parrying wasn’t particularly challenging.
But I can’t just say that.
Deiker and Ben were instantly killed, and Jeina was likely critically injured.
If I said, “It was easy,” about a monster that took out three or four mid-tier mercenaries, they’d never believe me.
“…”
In fact, the tip of Gerard’s sword was trembling slightly.
This isn’t good.
In <cross destiny="">, players could freely kill NPCs.<br>
Conversely, NPCs could also attack the player, and this situation was exactly that.</cross>
A rookie who just lost his memory suddenly wakes up and displays absurd strength… It’s the perfect setup to arouse suspicion.
I had experienced an event before where allies grew suspicious of my identity.
It was tedious, complicated, and even after clearing it, it felt unrewarding.
Trust-related events were always like that. Lost trust was incredibly hard to regain, and even resolving misunderstandings left lingering doubts.
After some thought, I spoke.
“I’ve fought that thing before.”
“What?”
“Its patterns, its attack style—those things came back to me in a flash.”
If memory loss was the issue, I could use it to my advantage.
“No way. You joined us in the southern region. Those things first appeared in the north.”
“Well, I definitely remember that monster. That’s how I was able to drive it off. So, I must be from the north, right?”
Among mercenaries, there was an unspoken rule not to pry into others’ pasts.
So, Gerard likely knew nothing about my background.
“That must be it. Otherwise, there’s no way you could’ve fought that monster.”
As expected, Gerard nodded in agreement.
“But why would someone with your skills join as a low-tier mercenary? With that ability, you could be mid-tier… maybe even high-tier.”
“I don’t remember that far yet. Besides, that’s not what’s important right now, is it?”
“What do you mean?”
“We got ambushed by the enemy before we even started our reconnaissance.”
At my question, Gerard fell into thought.
“Now that you mention it…”
“They were waiting for us to come out. That’s impossible unless they knew the location of the drainage channel.”
Hellmorphs weren’t just brute-force monsters. They were highly intelligent.
To them, the drainage channel was a shortcut to infiltrate the castle with minimal effort.
“Let’s report this quickly.”
“Y-Yeah, let’s head back. Dina, explain the situation. I’ll carry Jeina.”
Realizing the gravity of the situation, Gerard began issuing orders.
As they tended to Jeina and roughly handled Ben and Deiker’s bodies, Dina approached Gerard with a worried expression.
“Captain, something’s off.”
“What is it?”
“I’ve been trying to contact the communication officer, but I can’t get through at all.”
“It’s wartime, so the usual communication frequency we used might be different. Let me try.”
Gerard placed a finger to his ear. After a moment, to his relief, the communication connected, and he spoke with a relaxed expression.
“Hey, this is Gerard, leader of the Alpha Mercenary Corps. I have important information to—”
Crack!
A loud bursting sound, audible even to me and Dina from a distance, cut off the communication abruptly.
“Ugh, what the hell?”
“It’s not working, is it? It connects and then cuts off.”
“It’s one of two things.”
At my voice, Gerard and Dina turned to me.
“Either they’re blocking us.”
Boom!
“Eek?”
“Kyaa!”
Suddenly, a massive explosion echoed from beyond the drainage channel, coming from the eastern gate.
“Or they’re in a situation so dire they can’t respond…”
I tried to suppress my trembling voice as I spoke.
Is this how it happens?
In the original tutorial, the backdrop was a burning castle. Artier, critically injured, would wake up after being unconscious to find the castle in flames.
But right now, the castle wasn’t burning.
Which meant…
It’s about to start burning.
I was now facing the inevitable destruction in real-time.
“Captain, what do we do?”
“What do you mean, what do we do? Don’t you see the outer wall’s been breached?”
Gerard, carrying the unconscious Jeina, shouted.
“We need to escape now. Run if you want to live!”
As we left the drainage channel and entered the city, the people gathered at the walls were already in chaos.
“The monsters are invading!”
“Run!”
Citizens were fleeing in all directions, and even the soldiers meant to control them were panicking, unable to regain order.
It was a perfectly executed, blindsiding ambush.
This is the tutorial area, after all…
Normally, there were various escape measures prepared for emergencies. But in the tutorial, all of them were disabled.
The teleportation gate was deactivated due to depleted mana stones, and not a single airship remained.
The only place we could go was…
“Run faster! If the inner gate closes, we’re trapped here!”
At Gerard’s shout, I quickly moved.
***
“You arrived at a critical moment.”
Inside the inner castle, countless refugees, soldiers, and injured people were packed to the brim.
With Gerard’s help, we entered the military zone and met a knight commanding the soldiers.
“As you can see, the situation is dire. We need to rescue as many soldiers outside the inner castle as possible.”
“Where should we go?”
Gerard asked.
“The east is already lost. The west is secured, so head north.”
“Understood. What about compensation?”
“Compensation? Can’t you see the situation? It’s wartime. We’ll discuss it after everything’s settled.”
“Sir, it seems you don’t understand mercenaries.”
Gerard raised his head as he spoke.
“Mercenaries don’t take on jobs without set rewards.”
“Are you defying the Orion Empire’s will?”
“No, I’m simply following the Mercenary Guild’s policy set by the empire.”
Mercenaries worked for pay.
Depending on the reward, they could ally with yesterday’s enemy or cut down yesterday’s friend.
Because of this, mercenaries always demanded an advance before starting a job. Otherwise, they could be used and left with nothing.
“Without at least a verbal agreement on compensation, we can’t take on any requests. Breaking this rule means losing our mercenary license and being barred from operating anywhere in the empire. Please understand.”
Gerard finished speaking and bowed politely. Watching him, I thought, To stay calm in this situation… He’s a true leader.
Even if it was imperial law, Gerard, a commoner, was making demands of a noble knight.
It was something most people wouldn’t dare do.
“Tch.”
The knight clicked his tongue and glared at Gerard.
“Fine. On the condition of escaping here, I’ll pay 20 copper coins as an advance and 4 silver coins upon success.”
“Understood.”
[Quest Generated.]
“Get the advance from the inner castle’s warehouse manager.”
The knight, looking annoyed, walked away.
“Phew, done.”
Wiping sweat from his brow, Gerard pointed at Jeina and said to Dina, “Take Jeina to the infirmary. And pick up the advance from the warehouse manager.”
“Ugh, she’s so heavy.”
“Just do it. Artier, you’re with me.”
“Yes…”
Gerard led me toward the inner gate we’d entered through.
I thought we were heading to start the quest, but he gave an unexpected order.
“Artier, you’re sitting out the soldier rescue mission for now.”